Planting cover crops is integral to managing the health of our soil on the farm. In order to improve the soil in one of the back sections of the farm, we’re planting it with a cover crop of cowpeas for the season. As they grow, the cowpeas will work to fix beneficial nitrogen to the soil, reduce soil erosion, and hopefully crowd out pesky weeds like nutsedge. Our plan is to let the cover crop grow throughout the summer until we can mow it down in the fall. The bonus with a cowpea cover crop is that we will be able to harvest both fresh and dried peas for you as it grows!

We’re harvesting four new crops for you this week: tomatillos, long beans, jalapenos, and eggplant. Long beans are not only fun to play with out in the field as seen in the photo above but in the kitchen as well! Farmer Alex recommends stir-frying them with garlic, soy sauce, and honey and a quick and flavorful side dish. As for the tomatillos and jalapenos, they make a great salsa along with our scallions that can be paired with slices of grilled or roasted eggplant. If you’d like to try out these recipes, make sure to pop by the farm stand to stock up!

Just in case you hadn’t noticed it yet, it’s mighty hot outside! The arrival of a record-breaking heat wave means that our more sensitive crops like tomatoes won’t be around much longer. Overall, the high heat and dry conditions will be stressful for most of our crops so we’ll keep you updated as it might affect what’s available at the farm stand week to week. And, it means that we’ll most likely be doing work off-farm in the afternoons past 2pm on days when the highs reach 100 degrees and above to avoid heat stress for ourselves. Stay cool out there!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Long Beans, Eggplant, Tomatillos, Jalapenos, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes, Spaghetti Squash, Delicata Squash, Cucumbers, Amaranth Greens, Zucchini, Cousa Squash, Carrots, Beets, Scallions, and Cut Flowers

We’re harvesting up a storm to make sure we have plenty of delicious veggies for you at the farm stand! This Saturday, May 21st, the farm stand will be set up alongside the Splash Bash, an event hosted by Jordan Ranch’s Lifestyle Team. There will be water activities for kids, 20 local vendors, a food truck, and of course, our farm-fresh veggies and flowers! The Splash Bash takes place during the same hours as our farm stand, 9am-noon. We’d love to see you there!

Harvesting spring crops means more space for summer crops! This week, we planted Sugar Baby watermelons (pictured above) and Asian eggplant. We don’t know about you, but we’re always excited to see watermelons back in the field! They’re definitely one of our favorite summer treats and we can’t wait to share them with you. We hope to begin harvesting the first watermelons about 2 months from now. In the meantime, we’ll make sure to keep you updated on their growth!

Stay tuned for some brand new veggies coming on next week! Both our winter squashes and tomatillos will be ready for harvesting in the next several days. Tomatillos (pictured above) are an interesting crop to harvest because the telltale sign of ripeness is when the exterior husk splits open. Our winter squashes on the other hand are ready for harvesting when the skin has toughened and doesn’t yield when pressed with a fingernail. We’ll be harvesting Delicata (pictured below) and Spaghetti squashes.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Green Beans, Zucchini, Cousa Squash, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers (pickling & slicers), Tomatoes (slicers & cherries), Carrots, Beets, Kohlrabi, Scallions, Leeks, Collard Greens, Kale, Basil, and Flower Bouquets

July 1st, 2021

Tomato season is swiftly coming to an end so we hope you’ve been able to get your fill! We will have slicer tomatoes for only one more week and our cherry varieties for hopefully two to three more weeks. Now is the time that we start harvesting green tomatoes! The term “green tomato” simply refers to an unripe tomato. Green tomatoes tend to be firm, pale green, and have more of a tart, astringent flavor than their ripe counterparts. Popular Southern uses of this vegetable include fried green tomatoes and the pickled relish known as chow-chow.

Similar to green tomatoes in appearance, our tomatillos are nearing the first harvest. Unlike with tomatoes, the color of the tomatillo doesn’t dictate when it’s fully mature. Instead, it’s the papery outer husk. Once the husks have burst open to reveal the tomatillo inside, it’s time to harvest! Tomatillos are most commonly used to make salsa verde but they can also be used in soups, stews, and even as a substitute to tomato juice in a bloody Mary.

Our okra crop has really hit its stride as we find ourselves harvesting nearly every other day! Though okra in general is an incredibly fast grower once it starts producing pods, we’ve noticed that the burgundy variety we’re growing seems to be even quicker than the green variety. Okra is most frequently enjoyed pickled, fried, or in a bowl of gumbo. An easy and quick way to enjoy your okra is to roast it in the oven. Simply trim off the stem end of your okra and spread it out in an even layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle the okra with olive oil, season it with salt and pepper, and roast it in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes, making sure to toss the okra every 5 minutes so that it roasts evenly.

If you’ve ever wanted to get involved with the farm, we have the perfect opportunity for you: volunteering! If you’re interested in volunteering some of your time helping the team out with basic farm tasks, email us at JordanRanch@agmenity.com.

May 5th, 2021

Since the farm received quite a bit of rain over the weekend we decided to go ahead and harvest our potatoes a little earlier than planned. Potatoes are quite sensitive to moisture so we wanted to make sure that we got them out of the ground as soon as possible. We’re happy to report that they’re incredibly delicious and we’ll have them this weekend and possibly next weekend at the farm stand! Both of the varieties we have are red-skinned and one of the varieties even has reddish flesh as you can see in the photo.

Our cucumbers are setting fruit and we are on track to have the first harvest available this weekend at the farm stand. The first cucumber to fruit is the Korean Eun Cheon variety. These striking cucumbers have a sort of ombre effect with green on the stem end fading to light green on the blossom end. Eun Cheon is a slicing cucumber that is sweet and crisp. We’re also growing Calypso cucumbers (a small pickling variety) in addition to a Turkish cucumber variety. We expect to begin harvesting these varieties in the next couple of weeks.

We transplanted a row of tomatillos this week and some of the plants are just beginning to set their first flowers. Tomatillos are members of the nightshade family along with potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Tomatillos are a unique crop in that they bear fruit surrounded by an inedible, papery husk. As the fruit matures and grows, it can eventually break through the husk right before it reaches the harvesting stage. Depending on when a tomatillo is picked dictates the flavor. If picked early when light green in color, the tomatillo is tart and ideal for making salsa verde. However, if left to mature on the plant longer, it develops a sweeter flavor similar to a tomato.

If you’re out and about and want to support restaurants that are using our produce, check out the following: Ostia, Squable, Theodore Rex, UB Preserv, Nancy’s Hustle, and Tongue Cut Sparrow.